


Finding Sugar

by Asymptotical



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-08
Updated: 2019-02-08
Packaged: 2019-10-24 06:14:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17699168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asymptotical/pseuds/Asymptotical
Summary: It was hardly the weirdest case that Nate had ever helped out on, but it was definitely the one that he spent the most time wishing he could sew his own mouth shut.





	Finding Sugar

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Allekha](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Allekha/gifts).



"Well, this is weird."

Behind him Nick huffed out a laugh, carefully checking over the dead body of the guy they'd been tracking. "Hardly the weirdest thing either of us has seen, especially on a case."

"Nick it’s like fifty pre-war crates of sugar." Nate was pretty sure it was insensitive to have almost instantly dismissed any attention paid towards the poor sod slumped against the cave wall outside, but he saw dead bodies all the time now. He absolutely did not see this much sugar. Hell, he was pretty sure he’d never seen this much sugar in one place before the vault and that was counting the Super Duper. The candy aisle was big but it wasn't 'fill an entire bunker' of massive crates level of big.

Typical. Massive stash of something completely superfluous and someone managed to protect it well enough to survive untouched hidden away in a bunker in a cave for 200 years. Where was the warehouse of screws and construction tools when he needed it? Rubber hosing, maybe some circuit boards that weren't half broken. Nate had a wishlist of things he wasn't gonna get and sugar was pretty low on that list.

"Looks like about sixty crates, if I'm judging the room dimensions right." Nick mused absentmindedly, pulling out a stimpak. Which-- Wait a sec.

"Hold up is that guy alive? Shit." Nate abandoned his temporary obsession and moved back out of the room, crouching down and staring at the Wetherby's face as Nick carefully injected the Stimpak into the unmoving man's chest. For a few moments the guy looked dead... and then there was a bit of breathing. "Well. Any idea what did 'im? Or tried to, I guess. I don't smell any blood."

Nick shook his head, "Could be an overdose. Could be an internal injury." He shot Nate a smile, "You're the medic."

"Six months in medevac does not a medic make." Nate sat back on his heels. He wasn't sure if it was knowing that the guy wasn't a corpse or the stimpak working, but his breathing seemed a bit more obvious. "I'd say let's give him a few minutes for the stimpak to work it's magic and then haul ass back to Dr. Sun."

"I'll keep an eye on him. Hate to lose him to a molerat at this point."

Nate laughed. "Don't want to get a facefull of whatever's hiding in those crates?"

"Maybe you'll get lucky and it'll be sweets," Nick suggested with a smile, though the way he was eyeing the crates said that he wasn't expecting that.

"Wouldn't that be the day." Nate sighed, shoving to his feet and moving back into the bunker, tapping his pip-boy alive as he approached the boxes again. No radiation, which was almost a shame because it meant he was going to be prying one of these crates open. Which meant climbing. Normally Nate loved climbing, and a few crates maybe his height and half again barely counted, but since he hadn't taken advantage of checking the crates out while Nick was distracted by their case over there, he now had to climb up while Nick was busy making sure he didn't fall on his ass.

Which meant his brain doing dumb things like worrying about how his ass looked in these pants.

He knew that there was no way Nick was going to even notice anything about how he did or didn't look unless an injury was involved but that was where Nate's head was at and now he couldn't get it to stop. God damnit. Nick probably wasn't even looking at him, what with a victim to keep an eye on and who knows what that could come down the cave at any moment... but damn if Nate was going to risk turning around and confirming the opposite.

Instead, he just tossed himself up at the crate, grabbing the top ledge and hauling himself up. It wasn't graceful, but it was quick.

"Careful there." Nick cautioned, confirming all of Nate's worst fears. But at least at this point he was up on the crates and a bit harder to see from the door.

"We're on a schedule." He joked back, eyeing one of the crates. "This height, I'm more worried about splinters than falling."

"Heh. Well, I don't know if a splinter's worth wasting a stimpak on so let's try and avoid that."

"Pretty sure the cure for a splinter is just some tweezers and someone to kiss it better." Nate laughed, before immediately regretting that he had ever learned how to speak.

Nick chuckled. "Fair enough, you let me know if you need help with that."

And, well, nope. Nate was gonna just be here with his face on fire wishing himself out of existence. He should be able to joke around with a friend without getting all weird about it, for fuck's sake. Yet here he was, being weird about it. Thank god Nick couldn't really see him from this angle.

Instead he tugged his knife (which was more like a big chunk of flattened rebar someone had added an edge to somehow) out of his belt and tried to see if there was an angle he could pry it into the box at without having to lean back out over the edge looking like a tomato. "Looks like it's just nailed in. I'm gonna try and pry this open so if you hear some cracking, it's just that."

"Hm." Nick sounded a bit distracted... but Nate figured he was probably back to keeping an eye on their rescuee now that Nate wasn't crawling up a sheer wall of crates.

Nate wedged his knife at an angle that he could get at it in the gap between the crate and the wall, then shoved it down hard. The top of the crate creaked up, exposing something shiny.

Probably not sugar then.

A few moments later, and Nate was back to not being sure. Once he got the crate open it was... something. Like a massive industrial plastic bag of sugar. "Hey, Nick, come take a look at this." Nate pressed a gloved hand down on the clear plastic, frowning at the very sugar looking crystals. "You ever seen sugar stored like this?"

The time from him saying that to hearing the sound of Nick's metal hand against the wood was so little that Nate almost jumped. A moment later the other man was on the crates, frowning down at the whatever-it-was.

"Careful, might get a splinter." Nate joked, trying not to think about where that sort of joke had led before. Wishing that he had just kept his mouth shut before starting that up again. Hard to hide a blush at this range.

Nick huffed a laugh and looked as though he was about to say something, then his smile faltered a bit and he glanced back down at the bag. "Probably not actual sugar. Likely mixed with something vile."

"I could always try it and see."

"Don't you dare." Nick shook his head. "Unless you brought a chemical testing kit, it's going to be a mystery for today."

"Those are you specialty." Nate joked, then glanced back at the opened crate. "Why would someone order massive plastic bagged crates of actual sugar? Gotta be a drug."

"Might have been the big break Wetherby there was talking about before he disappeared." Nick gestured back towards the door, where Nate could barely see the guy's leg. Presumably he'd be able to stay alive unsupervised for a few more minutes. "Couldn't find any papers on him, which is suspicious in and of itself. His sister might have found some more info in the meantime. We'll start there."

Nate nodded, reaching over to pull the top of the crate back over the maybe-sugar. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Nick watching him and tried to will himself not to be self-conscious, joking, "Don't worry, I'm not gonna fall in."

Nick snorted. "With you, I can never tell. Turn my back for one second..." The reassurance seemed to have done the trick, since the detective was turning away. A moment later Nate heard his boots hit the concrete floor of the bunker.

"We'll swing by Hangman's on the way back and radio Cogs to come check it out. He's at Oberland, he'll probably have it all figured and get back to us before Sun manages to figure out what's wrong with our friend down there. If it does somehow turn out to be sugar, it'll make a lot of people happy. Most of the sweets topside may as well be marked 'for ghouls only' and half of them don't have taste buds anymore anyways." Nate slammed the hilt of his knife down on the edges of the crate to lock the top back in place. The nails weren't in near as tight as they'd started out, but it was better than nothing. If they sealed the door then they probably wouldn't have to worry about bugs getting in.

"Not getting any radiation readings then?"

"Nope, not a blip." Nate resisted the urge to try jumping down from the crates, climbing down a bit more carefully than he'd gone up.

Nick was kneeling over their guy again, and as Nate's feet hit the ground he barely turned at the sound to wave him over. "How sensitive is that pip-boy of yours?"

"Way more than sensitive enough to tell me exactly how many rads I'd be risking every time I consider biting into a Fancy Lads." Nate reassured him. "This much in a room, it would be going crazy."

"Hm. See if you can get any readings from Wetherby here. Focus on his stomach and digestive tract."

Nate raised an eyebrow, but he flicked his pip-boy back on and took the space Nick vacated as he neared. And... sure enough, the tiniest of radiation blips. "Huh. Doesn't look like radiation exposure."

"Agreed. He probably took something he wasn't prepared for."

Nick didn't have to explain what type of drugs to Nate, he could remember that whole encounter with Winters pretty damn clearly. Why a random scavenger would end up with something like that... "You think he found something that said it would make him immortal and took it?"

Nick shook his head. "Not much of that lying around in bunkers. The places you can find this sort of thing aren't the sort someone like Wetherby would take a crack at. I think some raiders took something not knowing what it was, died of it, then their buddies kept it around as a poison. Scavenger sold them the coordinates to a hell of a stash and they decided to keep him quiet."

Nate glanced back at the bunker. "If it was this one they're going to be pretty disappointed."

Nick was looking into midair with a focused look that made Nate's heart skip a little, obviously going over evidence in his head. "Doubt it. They'd be all over this place if it was. The real question is why the drug and not a bullet."

"Sounds like you've got an idea." Nate grinned up at him. Nick pretty much always had an idea.

"Sure do." Nick shrugged a little, closing the bunker door with a clang and tapping at the terminal beside the door to relock it, "And if I'm right it explains why he came here instead of running home. Let's get back to Diamond City, see if we can find who he was talking to. And then we'll see if my hunch pans out."

"Knowing you, it will."

Nick chuckled, still looking a little distracted as he watched Nate carefully pick up Wetherby. Nate really didn't like moving someone who was this injured... but if Nick thought it was poison then Nick was probably right. Nate just hoped that it wasn't poison and internal injuries that he was now jostling by carrying the guy over his shoulder. Once he got back in the power armor he'd left outside the cave it was going to be even more of a bumpy ride for the poor guy.

"So." Nick waved back at the bunker. "If that turns out edible, got any plans for it?"

"You mean other than gaining about fifty pounds?" Nate joked. "Med supplies."

Nick gave him a quizzical look. "Well, that's a new one."

"It's supposed to keep stuff from getting infected." Nate kept himself from shrugging, conscious of the fact that he was carrying someone. "I don't remember exactly why, I think it's a preservative or something so maybe has to do with that? Stimpak is still gonna be better but we've got a limited supply of those and it'd be nice to have a way to keep something from getting infected if we run out or need to ration them."

"And you keep saying you aren't a medic."

"I'm gonna be telling people to pack open wounds with raw sugar based on a half-remembered tip from an actual medic I was only half listening to. Pretty sure that makes me a quack."

Nick laughed, shaking his head. "Still better than half the medical knowledge we've got left."

"That is officially the scariest thing about the future."

They walked in silence for a few moments, Nate carefully picking over the rocks. Now was not the time to trip. He'd like to think he was a functional adult that was fully capable of the whole companionable silence thing, but instead he kept having to resist the urge to see if he was right about Nick keeping an eye on him and getting all distracted in his own head. Finally, to reset his brain if nothing else, he said, "We're definitely going to eat some of it though. There'd probably be a coup if we didn't. It'll be nice to be able to have something sweet without worrying." Nate paused a second, tilting his head towards Wetherby. "Though I guess technically it was this guy's find."

Nate could hear Nick's trenchcoat shifting as the detective shrugged. "I'm pretty sure his contacts don't lean towards bakery supplies."

"I'm pretty sure he's gonna be getting out of drug running after this. Didn't exactly work out well for him."

"Set him up at one of your settlements. If he can sell coordinates to raiders he can sell anything to anyone."

"And then I get to keep the sugar too!" Nate laughed. "Perfect plan. We'll have to make some caramel or something. Bake something? I don't know, it'll be nice to have some treats."

"Surprised you haven't had any down at the Institute," Nick said, then paused. Nate wasn't sure exactly what expression it was going over the detective's face, especially since the cave was dark enough that he could mostly just see Nick's eyes, but he was pretty sure Nick was worried it was too sensitive a subject.

Which was a new thing for Nate, having things he didn't want to talk about. He liked talking about things. He talked about Nora constantly. He talked about the settlements constantly. He used to talk about Shaun constantly. And then Shaun had turned out to be three times his age and a whole damn thing and Nate wasn't even ready to think about the kidbot that Shaun seemed to have intended to program into a child version of himself which fuck if Nate knew where to go with the morality on that one and... fuck but his life had gotten weird.

He couldn't even just dismiss the kid completely either because, well, with literally everyone else he had no problem thinking of them as people. Thinking of them as whatever people they had the memories of was easy. Nick? No issue. Even if the memories didn't make him exactly old Nick, he was still Nate's Nick now and that was what mattered. If Nick didn't seem to have any issues over it then, well, why should Nate?

But for some reason when it was his own kid his brain tripped. It was hard to get himself to think of the kid that he'd first met down there as an actual kid and not a robot. Hell, most of the time it was hard to remember that his actual blood and bone child was his Shaun. How did anyone even deal with that?

"Nate?" Nick sounded a bit worried, and Nate suddenly realized he'd been silent entirely too long.

"I don't eat down there. I'm worried they'll have some sort of experimental mind control drug in it or something." The joke fell a bit flat, mostly because it wasn't really a joke. He was kind of worried that he'd fall asleep there and wake up a brain in a jar if he let his guard down.

"Considering their infiltration skills, they could probably drug you up here too."

"Yeah but at least then they have to actually put some effort in, get approval from multiple departments and probably Shaun, then either risk an existing cover or make a new one and then hope I'm the one who eats the thing and I don't just bring it back to a settlement or hand it out to someone elsewhere." He could see the edge of the cave up ahead, and his power armor parked a bit out of sight right past the cave in that narrowed the entrance.

Nick laughed as they headed out into the light. "Well, at least you're pragmatic about it."

"If you can't beat it, make it annoying enough to not be worth it." Nate said, carefully setting Wetherby down against the rockfall and heading towards his power armor. He paused before he got into it though, hand on the wheel, then turned towards Nick. This wasn't really the right time... but fuck it. "So Big Shaun keeps talking about reprogramming Little Shaun into him. Pretty sure he's trying to bribe me into blowing up the Railroad or something by giving me another version of him to raise."

That probably wasn't the most graceful way to throw that into a conversation, and given the way Nick stilled and looked at Nate it probably had seemed just as sudden to him. "Have you told him you don't want him to?"

"I haven't said a goddamn word. He starts offering stuff, I start changing the subject. Plus I don't really... I don't really know that I don't want him to? I'm not about to custom order another version of my kid, but this kid is already there and I've got no idea what to do about that even if he isn't programmed to be Shaun." Nate sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Sorry, you're probably the last person I should dump this one."

"Or the first. Don't think you've got anyone else with my sort of experience."

"Yeah? Think you can give me an easy answer here?"

Nick frowned. "No." There was a pause, long enough that Nate wasn't certain if it actually was one, but Nick was looking at him like he wanted to say something else... then the detective finally sighed. "But I do think it would be a good idea to get that kid out of the Institute regardless of if your son goes through with reprogramming him."

Of all the things that could have come after that big of a pause, that was an easy one. "Probably a good idea. Can't be good for someone to get his personality reset that much."

Nick smoothed out the sleeve of his trenchcoat a bit. "I doubt he remembers. I'm sure I had other personalities but I can't remember a thing about them."

Nate was suddenly struck trying to imagine Nick as someone else. If someone else's personality had been the last installed before CIT tossed him out... He couldn't really get his head around it. Nick coming home with a new personality would be just as jarring as Piper or Preston doing so. Which... which really led to a question he had no right to ask. It was insensitive as all fuck... but Nick was probably the only person he really could ask and it was kind of relevant. "If it were you, which would you rather?"

Nick gave him a quizzical look, before suddenly catching on, his face going serious. "I don't know Nate. I like who I am, and I'm damn grateful it was Nick whose memories I got. Some other version of me in some other world might be giving you the same damn answer about himself though. Including the version who didn't have someone else's memories installed."

"That's..."

"Not really the answer you wanted, I know."

"It's the one I needed to hear though." Nate sighed, "It's not like I can get him out of the Institute without Shaun's permission anyway, and Shaun isn't giving that unless he's got the kid exactly how he wants him. For all I know my instincts are way off base and the kid will be filled with spyware."

"You don't think they'll take the opportunity?"

Nate frowned, thinking of every conversation he'd had with Shaun. "No. I get it's probably naive as fuck but I really think he's hit that point in old age where he's sentimental for all the things he didn't have? That's why he woke me up, why he's making Little Shaun... And even if he isn't, Dr. Li likes me."

"You make friends everywhere don't you," Nick said fondly.

"It's a talent." Nate shrugged at him. "Thanks for letting me babble and ask prying questions."

"Anytime. It's a good idea to know what you're going to do before it happens. If you see it coming... Well, if you need to talk it over I'm always here."

"Thanks Nick. It's mostly just the same thing going round and round in my head."

"Still helps to talk about it." Nick gave him a piercing look. "We'll go over the options, at least make it so you know the choices if Shaun springs it on you."

"Thanks," Nate said warmly, grinning softly over at Nick.

Nick just smiled back, and for a moment Nate had a horrible urge to just spill out all the other things that had been on his mind today.

Luckily before he could do anything dumb there was a crack on the horizon and both of their heads jerked over. Nate frowned as he tried to track the sound. "Not close."

"No, but we should still go. That can change rapidly."

Nate nodded, spinning the back of his power armor open and sliding inside. He always had to fight down that bit of claustrophobia as it closed down on him, but once it was snugly in place it faded. He clomped over to Wetherby, trying to be as careful as possible as he picked him up. "Hopefully we don't run into it. You and I will be fine but I'm gonna have fragile cargo over here."

 

 

* * *

 

 

Back at Diamond City, Nick was busy conferring with Dr. Sun and Wetherby's slightly-less-distraught-than-originally sister about Wetherby's contacts. Nate was busy catching Piper up while they waited outside the agency for Nick.

By the time they'd gotten back, Cogs had made it to the cave. Which meant they knew there was somewhere between one and sixty creates of pure sugar that some crazy person had decided to hide in a bunker.

"What do you even do with that much sugar." Piper laughed.

"Eat it, generally."

Piper whapped his arm with her hat. "Obviously but, just you?"

"Nate wants to use it as medical supplies," Nick interjected with a chuckle, coming around the corner with a stack of papers and a holotape.

"Seriously?" Piper gave him a measured look. "You're full of odd tricks, aren't you? What does sugar cure, besides a sweet tooth?"

"You pack it in wounds, keeps them from getting infected. Not as effective as a stimpak but it'll hold someone over in a pinch." Nate shrugged. "Or at least that's what a half drunk medic told me two hundred years ago."

"Sounds like a good enough source." Piper laughed. "Just gotta convince everyone not to eat it instead."

"We'll eat some of it." Nate reassured her. "I'm not going crazy over here."

"So does 'we' in this case just encompass all your ducklings or..?"

"Are you angling for some sugar here?" Nate laughed, leaning towards Nick and wiggling his eyebrows. "Hey Nick, Piper is trying to get our sugar."

Per usual, Nate managed to not realize things he was saying until well after he'd said them. He floundered for a moment, feeling his cheeks heat a little as the double meanings that he had absolutely not meant with that joke suddenly occurred to him. Piper was rolling her eyes at him so hard her hat was at risk of coming off and he could not think of a single way to come back from it.

Nick gave an odd little half laugh, then shook his head. "Pretty sure you won't need all of it, Nate."

"Christmas is coming up in a few months and has a lot of candy based iconography associated with it." Ellie cut in, opening the agency door. She was officially Nate's favorite at this moment for saving him from having to come back from that.

Nate waved an arm out at the city that was slowly becoming bedecked with pumpkins now that it had hit October. He didn't want to think about the other date that was also looming. "Or Halloween? It's pretty much the candy based holiday."

She frowned at him, then turned towards Nick, who nodded as he stepped into the door, "Yeah, it was a whole thing. Kids would run around in costumes going from house to house asking for candy."

"You hadn't mentioned that last Halloween."

"You guys have your own traditions now, figured you didn't need some old relic telling you how it used to be."

"Oh come on Nick, you know people like to hear about the old world. Most people just don't want to pry. You know, the whole detective with a mysterious past aura you've got going." Piper slipped around Ellie with barely a nod, intent on Nick. "So, what strange candy related things did people do in the old world?"

Nick floundered for a moment, then gestured towards Nate. "Pretty sure you've got a better source now. Halloween was always more--" Nick paused a moment, and based on his expression Nate suddenly realized that the other man wasn't sure if it was going to be a sensitive subject or not. Especially considering their conversation outside the cave.

"Kid related stuff. Or costume parties." Nate wanted to make a joke about Nick going to costume parties dressed like himself... but he was no more sure if that would be more mean than funny. Had old Nick and Jenny gone to costume parties? Probably not a question for right now.

"Anyways, Shaun was too young still, we probably had a couple years of relaxed Halloweens yet before the candy-fueled madness started. We never really got to do the heavy partying thing either, either I was deployed or Nora was ear deep in cases."

He glanced over at Nick, but before he could even ask the question the detective shook his head. "Not my scene."

"Aw come on, they don't all have to be drug-fueled hazes. Sometimes they're just mildly drunk dinner things where you try to stop your diabetic aunt from eating too much chocolate."

He could practically see Piper filing away multiple questions to ask for later, before she settled on one. "How would Halloween have gone for a kid Nat's age?"

Nate smiled fondly at her. "In a good neighborhood with a kid you trust to run around on their own? They go out in a costume with a pillowcase or a plastic pumpkin, go up to every house and say 'trick or treat!', then get a piece of candy into their bag and so on and so forth until they show back up at home and get to sort out their candy haul. My mom used to have a hell of a time making us eat veggies before we headed out for the night. Almost missed it once because I was refusing to waste stomach room on carrots."

Piper grinned. "The adults are at home having a party then?"

"Yeah, or by the door handing out candy to the kids that came by. One of my uncles dressed up as a scarecrow one year and pretended to be a decoration with an open bowl of candy on his lap, then if a kid took more than a piece he'd grab their arm and scare them."

"That would be the trick part of it then," Ellie said, tapping her fingers against the desk.

"Probably not best to try to pull off in this locale," Nick mused, spreading the papers out over the desk.

Ellie focused in on them. "So Anne managed to find something? She said she was going to be tearing up the floorboards while you were out, trying to see if she could figure out any leads."

"Sure did. Said it looks like her brother has some sort of partner."

"So... we should probably not have come in just to distract you I guess," Nate said, rubbing his hand up his hair.

"We can always go talk about Halloween outside," Piper suggested.

"Or help read. Piper's good at that."

Nick laughed at them. "Too many cooks. I want to cross reference these quick with Ellie, see if we can get a location. If not we'll do a more thorough read."

Nate frowned at him. "We in a hurry?"

"Doctor Sun wants a sample of whatever Wetherby took. Thinks it might help him counteract whatever he's poisoned with more than just blindly dosing him with radaway and stimpaks."

"Definitely a hurry then." Nate flopped down into a chair out of the way. "We'll just make like mice and be quiet."

"You're fine. If hearing other people talk was a problem we'd never get a thing done here," Ellie reassured them, her eyes glued to the paper she was reading.

At this point, Nate figured the best thing he could do was at least not directly talking at them. They both seemed to be able to focus through it but... well that sort of left him with talking to Piper or staring at Nick while he worked and much as he absolutely would have been fine just watching the way that Nick kept flicking through information, making connections and referencing everything else he knew about the area and--

Piper sat in the chair beside him, shoving him with her shoulder and waggling her eyebrows when he looked at her. "Distracted?"

"The case is kind of more important than a bunch of sugar."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Not what I meant."

Nate knew exactly what she was talking about and was determined to ignore it. Hopefully he wasn't that obvious. Piper knew him pretty well and the only person here more observant than she was-- Was Nick. Who also knew him pretty damn well. For fuck's sake, he was blushing again and now he couldn't stop worrying about whether or not Nick was fully aware of Nate's malfunction. "Can't imagine what you do mean then."

Piper snorted, poking at his cheek. "Sure." She smirked at him. "Sooo. Halloween. Whatcha gonna make with that sugar to celebrate our lovely pumpkins with faces festival."

Nate snorted. "Depends on what we actually can make with just sugar? I wasn't kidding about saving most of it for medical supplies either, we should probably stretch it out."

"Yeah, yeah, but people don't get a treat like this often and there's something to be said for morale."

"You're a terrible influence."

"I just want what's best for everyone. And also old world candy recipes."

"Not gonna get many of those from me." Nate frowned. "I think we can maybe pull off... I don't know, any hard clear candy has to be mostly sugar, right? Rock candy definitely is.

Piper was staring at him, looking fascinated. "I assume actual rocks aren't involved."

"It's like." Nate screwed up his face. "Sugar crystals stuck to sticks? You made it by supersaturating water with the sugar and then hanging the sticks in... I think. Not really a traditional halloween candy though."

"What other things are traditionally Halloween?" Piper leaned forward, intent in a way that told him she was committing everything he said to memory.

Nate frowned. "I always got told the costumes were originally to confuse evil spirits and that's why people dressed up as ghosts before it turned into just general costumes. And then there was like apple bobbing and stuff. Basically float a bunch of fruit in a barrel of water and try to grab it with your mouth."

Piper gave him a look that suggested she was definitely going to be checking that one with Nick later.

"That was just us though. Other places had their own traditions. I know some of them got pretty religious too, not just a bunch of candy filled loons with costumes."

"So what other sorts of cultural traditions do you remember from around Halloween?"

"I don't really?" Nate shrugged as she frowned at him, "Sorry, if I'd known I was going to be your personal encyclopedia to the old world I might have read up a bit more. Nora probably knew, she used to make fun of me for being horribly monocultural."

"Well, once we're done with this I'll sit you and Nick down for a proper talk and we'll see how much we can get the two of you to remember. You've got a knack for those random details." She paused a moment, giving him a close look before adding carefully. "I know you said it was... complicated. But Shaun's been here before, right? Lived here for a bit? Halloween might be a good time to get him to actually see the city, just for a day or two. Might turn out he likes it. If you need a kidnapping partner you just let me know."

Might turn out that the version of Shaun who had ever stepped foot in Diamond City was also having a few programming glitches but hell if Nate was going to say that. He'd basically let everyone but Nick believe that Shaun didn't want to leave the Institute and that Nate couldn't find a good reason to force him. It wasn't a lie exactly... But it also definitely wasn't something he wanted to talk about now.

"We'll see." He said. Piper looked a little drawn and he wanted to say something to fix that... but Nick was looking back at them and boy did Nate not want to be in this conversation. Half-remembered candy had been way more fun.

Once Nick saw him looking, the detective waved him over. "I think I've got our target."

Nate pushed himself up and moved to the table, trying to ignore the sudden warmth at standing so close to the other man. Normally he'd try to convince himself of some bullshit about body heat or whatever, but Nick being a synth made it real obvious that this was just Nate making entirely normal things into too much.

"That's not far." Nate tapped the coordinates that Nick had scribbled down into his pip-boy, humming softly as it lit up with a location. Last time he'd been in that area it'd been nothing but rubble, but there was a subway entry nearby and that was probably their target.

"Sure isn't."

"You want some backup?" Piper asked, having moved to peer past Nate's shoulder.

Nate and Nick shared a glance for half a second before Nate said, "Yeah, shouldn't hurt. Just be ready to duck."

Part of him was tempted to send just the two of them off without him, because he had no idea how long it would take for him to ruin something or another with his awkwardness that he was slowly being forced to identify as a crush... but he was the heavy hitter and this could take some heavy hitting. No way was he abandoning Nick now over his own dumb emotions.

Piper laughed. "I'm better at ducking than the both of you."

Nick was frowning, visibly thinking over what he knew of the area. "This place is a bit of a maze so go slowly. Stick together." He glanced over at Nate, "You should probably hang back a bit in that armor. Not that it was a bad idea to bring, we'll need it if there's a fight, and maybe to avoid a fight, but it is noisy."

"You're the smart guy. I'm just here to shoot things and look pretty." Nate quipped, before once again wishing his mouth would stop going ahead of his brain. "Not that, you know, you look bad. You've got the whole mysterious detective thing going on."

Nick smirked at him. "Does that make you the femme fatale?"

"Is there a dude version of femme that matches the syntax?" Nate was mostly just relieved that he hadn't managed to offend. Not that Nick ever seemed offended by anything he said but, well. "I did kind of waltz into your office all 'please help me find my baby' and there's a trope if I've ever heard one."

"That's the damsel in distress."

"Can I be both?"

"How about you two save the flirting for the road." Piper quipped.

Nate wasn't sure if she was trying to shut them both up but boy did it work. They both stepped back (when had they even ended up that close? It was a big table they didn't need to have been standing that close) and Nate just turned around to make faces at Piper. It seemed like the most mature way to deal with the situation.

Ellie just sighed at all of them. "Be careful. Please bring Nick back in one piece."

"That's already a hard ask, Ellie." Nick joked, waving a hand in the general direction of his face. "But at least I'm easy to put back together."

"Well, in that case, they should make certain to bring back all of the pieces."

 

 

* * *

 

 

"Well. That could have gone better." Nick frowned at the complete mess of carnage they'd managed to make. Wetherby's old partners and the raider group they appeared to have made friends with hadn't been happy to see them.

"Not the best date I've ever been on." Nate joked.

Piper sighed. "Okay, that's it. You two are driving me insane."

Both men looked at her quizzically.

"That's far from the worst joke I've said today. It's not even the worst joke I've said in the last hour." Nate protested.

She rolled her eyes. "It's the flirting. The horribly blatant flirting that apparently isn't flirting because you're both dysfunctional. I was joking about it in the office but it has been constant and I'm pretty sure you two aren't even aware of it half the time."

Nate's heart pretty much hit the floor and Nick went dead still.

Piper put her hands on her hips, glaring at them. "You like him, he likes you. I'm gonna take me and my sneaky out to make sure there aren't any more baddies hiding in a closet somewhere and while I do that you two should, I don't know, make out or something."

She turned around and walked away, footsteps going quieter as she rounded a column in a way that meant she'd changed her gait to stay quiet. It was tempting to ditch his power armor and follow her, but out of the three of them he was easily the worst at stealth and he was pretty sure being sent back would be even worse.

“So,” he said. Then stopped because he had no idea what to say. He was pretty damn sure that Nick had just been humoring his inanity. "Apparently I've been more, uh, you know, than I meant to be." Nate was desperately relieved to be in the power armor for this talk because he was dying of embarrassment. "I'll, uh, cut it out? Sorry."

"Nate, you don't have anything to apologize for." Nick was facing him squarely now, even though Nate was doing his best not to look at him from the safety of his power armor. "I've been trying not to push. Pretty sure I went too far earlier."

"Doesn't mean I should get away with taking things too far. Seriously, just, call me out if I'm stepping over lines or anything. I mean I know I should really be able to identify lines on my own because supposedly functional adult and all that but clearly I've failed to--" Nate's ears managed to catch up to his mouth several sentences too late. "Wait, what?"

"Nate." Nick shifted awkwardly and rubbing his fingers against one of the exposed servos in his neck. "I meant, that. Well I've been attracted to you for a while and didn't want to make things uncomfortable. Between everything that you've been through and me being a synth, well, it didn't seem like a good step to take."

Nate paused, blood rushing in his ears as his brain tried to catch up with the start of that particular sentence, then pulled off the helmet of his power armor. Some things needed eye contact even if it did come with the fact that his face felt like it was going to melt off from blushing. "You seriously think I care about that?"

Nick smiled at him, somehow looking both relieved and incredibly nervous. "No, but that doesn't mean you're attracted to it." Before Nate could protest more, Nick hurried on, "And you've had a hell of a nasty year."

"I've had a hell of a nasty decade, hasn't stopped me yet." Nate was still trying to connect something. "What happened earlier? I mean I know I've been one giant ball of awkward all day but that's pretty normal for me lately."

"You have been pretty pensive." Nick frowned at him. "You made a joke about the way to heal splinters being to kiss them better and I said something about letting me do it? You went dead silent."

Nate went bright red. "Yeah, see I'm kind of dense. I was too busy thinking I overstepped by bringing it up in the first place to realize that was flirting. Did not until right this moment realize it. I thought you were just joking."

Nick paused a second, then laughed at shook his head. "No wonder we've been driving Piper insane."

"Yeah, well, Piper needs to learn to use her words because obviously we can't. Or at least I can't. Fuck." Nate resisted the urge to rub at his hair when he was wearing the power armor. That was a mistake he'd made about five times now and one of these days the lesson was gonna stick. "So, uh. That's a thing I guess."

Nick gave him a worried look. "Are you sure you're... About Nora..."

Nate wasn't sure what Nick was going for. Over what happened? Hell no, probably never. Over Nora? Also probably never. Dealing with it in a healthy fashion? Probably not. Ready to jump into another relationship? Who knew?

"I'm not the only one coming off another relationship here, Nick."

Nick frowned at him, "It's a different situation and you know it." Nate had a million arguments ready for if Nick's counter was the old Nick vs new Nick thing, but instead Nick continued. "I've had a hell of a long time to grieve, and I... I've closed the book on that chapter of my life. You helped me do it."

"You closed it like five minutes ago. Which I know because I was there."

"Nate."

Nate sighed, "Alright, fine. Nora would be so pissed if I tried to use her as an excuse to wallow. We had a good long talk before I went up to Anchorage, on what if I didn't come back. We weren't married then, but it was serious?" Nate ran gauntlet over his hair, wincing as it pulled out some strands but figuring it was decent penance for this sort of conversation somehow becoming about his dead wife who he was still very much in love with. Probably wasn't the best thing to be doing when he was supposed to be figuring things out with the guy who he was also in a real bad way for. "We both agreed that if either of us died then the other wasn't to treat mourning as, as a linear thing." Nate waved a hand absentmindedly. "It's a process? Or something. Nora was the smart one. She said it isn't a checklist, everyone has their own timeline in its own jumbled and overlapping order, and some things never go away."

"She was a smart woman," Nick said sadly.

Nate winked at him. "Apparently I have a type."

It probably wasn't appropriate but there were times that Nate wanted to get too far down the rabbithole of emotional conversations and in the middle of a caved in subway in power armor surrounded by the bodies of their enemies was not it. Especially since it was either the second or third emotional conversation today. Nate was pretty sure there should have been a limit or something.

Nick laughed, which Nate was pretty sure made the inappropriateness all okay. "Don't know if I'm gonna match a lawyer, but alright."

"I'm pretty sure you could keep up with her. You two would have had some fun. And considering I'm definitely the only Nora expert and the closest thing to a Nick expert besides Ellie I feel safe in saying all that as facts. So we'll, uh." Nate frowned. "You know I've got no idea what passes for dates in the wasteland."

Nick grinned at him. "Don't ask me, old Nick's idea was dinner and we're all out of fancy restaurants. All I can think of goes back to solving cases."

"Well, we've got that down at least." Nate laughed, feeling ridiculously light, "Does that mean we've been forcing Piper to third wheel it?"

"She sure seemed to think so."

"She did ask to come along." Nate grouched. "But, well. I mean upgrading from accidental dates to official dates works? Not like we need to rush anything."

He really really wanted to rush everything, all of a sudden. Like really really did. And from the way that Nick was looking at him, the detective was feeling the same way.

"Hey, lovebirds. I think I found what we're after." Piper popped back around the corner, then glared at them with her hands on her hips. "You better have talked things out. If you didn't and I have to mediate the start of this relationship, I'm printing something subtly sordid about the both of you."

"We're good," Nate said.

"Which means?"

"We talked things out." Nick said, frowning towards the direction that Piper had explored.

"Come on, you can't leave it at that. Details."

"The 'details' are that we're on a sensitive mission. What are we looking at here?" Nick gestured towards the box she was holding.

"I'm just going to get it out of Nate later you know."

Piper glared at him until Nate shrugged. "Fine but you owe me a beer."

"Done." Piper handed the box over to Nick. "Did you two really just stand around flirting?"

Nate tossed his hands into the air. "You told us to!"

"You could have checked some pockets while you chattered."

"We were getting to it!"

Nick sighed at both of them. "I'm going to pull the info from the terminal. You two check for evidence." He looked over at Piper, "Did you see any other terminals while you were checking the perimeter?"

"Nope!" Piper was busy turning out pockets, and when she looked up to glare at Nate he clattered his way over to help.

By the time they were done trying to find something interesting (and failing), Nick was back. "Looks like his old partners found new partners with bigger guns. They stole his coordinate list and gave him a poison they knew killed slow. Told him he could have the antidote if he brought them another stash."

"Bet they didn't even have the antidote." Piper snorted.

"Got it in one. They thought he had a backlog he was keeping from them, not that he was going to have to go out and scout." Nick sighed. "They probably would have gotten more gain out of it just keeping to their old deal. Greed always results in a worse situation for everyone involved."

"Never changes." Nate stood up, eyeing his pip-boy just to make sure he hadn't missed anything. "That the drug?"

Piper shrugged. "Best lead we've got on it. Sun will know pretty quick if it's the right one and if not we'll be back to root through the rubble quick."

"Best get back quick then." Nate pretended to do another sweep of the room as Piper and Nick started back towards the door, even though he was really watching Nick pass him by. "Hey Nick"

Nick looked up at him, and Nate gathered all the courage he had in him and moved close to him, ducking his head down a bit to press their lips together. Nick stiffened and for half a second Nate's heart dropped and he was certain he'd fucked up, but before he could draw back Nick was pushing towards him, grabbing hold of the front of his power armor and pulling Nate down into a deeper kiss. It was-- Kind of weird, really but he could get used to that. Kind of--

"Guys this is adorable, but we have things to do."

The two men jumped a little, Nick almost dropping the box he was holding and Nate's boots clanking loudly against the floor.

"Right. Sorry, uh." Nate shrugged at her, grinning stupidly. "Just finishing a thing up."

Nick laughed. "What happened to going slow?"

"That is slow! Ish. Okay maybe not. Technically, we decided this was a date. Kissing at the end of a date is all traditional and shit."

Piper sighed. "If I'm on it, I'm pretty sure it's not a date."

"You're the third wheel," Nick told her, laughing.

"We decided while you were scouting," Nate added cheerfully, pretty sure she wouldn't find this information at all helpful but wanting to put it out there anyways.

Piper threw up her hands as she went ahead.

Nate glanced at Nick as they followed, and the detective grinned up at him. "You know, technically it's not the end of a date until you're dropping the other person off at home."

Nate bounced on his heels a little, ignoring the way doing that in power armor echoed around the hall. "Well, in that case, I'll just have to end it properly later."


End file.
